Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Boom! Studios) Issue 17
Issue 17 is the eighteenth actual issue of Boom! Studios ongoing comic book series, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers which begins its numbering with Issue 0. It features the Mighty Morphin team. It is the precursor issue to a new story arc set after the events of the Lord Drakkon story arc, involving the Power Rangers being investigated by the United States government. This issue also introduces Grace Sterling, a philanthropic CEO of the company Prometha and a supporter of the Power Rangers. Synopsis The next Power Rangers epic starts here! The Power Rangers are finally reunited, but can things ever be the same? Plot The issue opens several months after the Rangers returned from Lord Drakkon's universe. Bulk and Skull report to Ranger Station that despite Rita Repulsa not being seen since that time or any major monster attack, the Power Rangers are keeping themselves busier than usual by helping people around the world. However, Bulk also says that public opinion of the Rangers has wavered a bit since "The Zord Incident" where the Zords went wild and attacked, with some citizens now afraid of the Power Rangers because of it. But opinions are still positive in the majority as Bulk shows a recording of pro-Ranger supporter and philanthropist billionaire Grace Sterling defending the Rangers on a news program. Grace talks about her company Promethea and how she hopes the recent relative peace and quiet will allow her to develop plans to help cities like Angel Grove and bring about a brighter future. On Tarmak 4, Kimberly and Trini are breaking out of a tower and stealing something inside sacks they are carrying. As they do, they are fleeing from armed Putties firing lasers at them. They are briefly surrounded and after disposing of some of the Putties tell Jason they have "the staff" and need an extraction point. Jason is coordinating multiple missions from the Command Center and tells them to meet up with Alpha 5—who is now rebuilt and back to his normal self—in the Pterodactyl Dino Zord on a cliff side outside the teleportation dampeners. Meanwhile Jason observes Tommy, Billy and Zack helping out a town in Oklahoma by evacuating people during a tornado. Jason struggles a bit juggling the two operations. Trini and Kimberly briefly get lost but Jason guides them to the right route. He then tries to get Team 2 to try to stop the tornado before it destroys the town. Billy suggests using cold air to destabilize the rising warm air fueling the funnel. So Zack uses the Mastodon Dino Zord to blast freezing winds at the tornado. Things start to go bad as both missions start to go wrong, with Kimberly and Trini ambushed by more Putties and the Mastodon Dino Zord struggling to maintain position with the heavy winds of the tornado threatening to push the machine aside. Jason orders Alpha to go in to extract Trini and Kimberly and Alpha uses the Zord's lasers to provide cover fire to extract the two via zip lines. Zack puts his Zord's freezing blast at full power and it weakens the tornado causing it to dissipate. A relieved Jason hears that both Ranger missions went well. Later, Trini reveals that the item they "acquired" from a black market dealer named Zosma who stole it from its original owner: Zordon. They reveal that the item is Zordon's staff. Saba explains that while he's done his best to maintain Zordon in the dimensional void using the Morphing Grid as a tether, Zordon needs something linked to him to bring him back into the Command Center. Kimberly thinks that sounds hard and was hoping things would go back to normal. Zack thinks things are going to be better than normal as the Command Center is fully rebuilt, Rita is absent and they can use their powers to help people in other ways than fighting monsters and get time off. Alpha 5 and Saba leave to prepare Zordon's staff for the tether that will bring Zordon back. With no immediate threats, everyone decides to go home and enjoy themselves for a well earned rest, except Jason. Jason is worried something might happen and stays behind to scan news reports around the globe as the others teleport back. Jason also scans Bandora Palace on the Moon for any signs of activity, concerned that something is up on the Moon as he listens to various news reports. At the Angel Grove Youth Center, Tommy and Billy are doing reps and weightlifting at the gym and despite Billy's weaker stamina, he manages to pull through with Tommy congratulating him. He then asks if Billy wants to go again after taking a break and Billy says he feels up to the challenge. Kimberly is talking with her mom about her divorced father's new girlfriend and the two have trouble communicating as the subject brings up the pain of Kimberly wanting her mom and dad to get back together as her dad's relationship with Kelly is going sour as they are fighting a lot. Kimberly's mother accidentally brings up the topic of her old boyfriend Matthew, which upsets Kimberly and she leaves the room despite her mother apologizing. Trini is going through the books on her reading list, with her reading the biography on Grace Sterling. Trini then gets bored and sees a movie she finds dumb about a giant robot leading an army. Trini then gets a call from Kimberly asking if she wants to have a girl's night out which she immediately accepts because of how bored she is. Kimberly and Trini are morphed without their helmets on and looking at a canyon from high above on the wing of the Pterodactyl Dino Zord. They talk and Trini says she misses being a Power Ranger on a "normal" day as going back to just classes, homework and regular things have her bored out of her mind. Kimberly confesses she is worried about Jason as he's not himself and staying in the Command Center constantly acting "super serious". Jason is fast asleep at the monitor while a news report about the US government's inaction about something is on the radio. Zack wakes him up and wonders if Jason is now sleeping in the Command Center and thinks he seriously need to give it a rest and "breaks are a good thing". This is hypocritically followed by Zack wondering if they are needed and a report comes in that a tower in Dubai is on the verge of falling over. The team is called in and they use the Megazord and Dragonzord to catch the building, only to be surprised by a person on a helicopter telling them "their down time is about to end" and it is revealed the voice on the megaphone is Grace Sterling, who really wants to talk with the Rangers.... TO BE CONTINUED.... The Ongoing Adventures of Squatt and Baboo Squatt and Baboo escape the Monsters-only alternate Earth using a Bye-Bye Bomb and end up in another universe, only this time they have been transmogrified into giant Zords. They survey their surroundings and Squatt knocks over a building, but find that this world is strangely absent of any people. Baboo sees this change as a opportunity to be heroes and use their new Zord forms to save the inhabitants from some great threat. To be continued... Covers Boom17CoverA.jpg|Main cover Jamal Campbell boom-morpher-red.jpg|Morphin variant Goñi Montes boom-actionfigure-billy.jpg|Action figure variant Haskell Mackowski boom-connecting-17.jpg|Connecting cover Steve Morris boom-17-foc.jpg|FOC Connecting Cover Julian Totino Tedesco boom-17-danmora.jpg|Dan Mora boom-17-sdcc.jpg|SDCC Peter Nguyen boom-17-xmen.jpg|X-men tribute Dan Mora boom-17-mostgoodhobby.jpg|Most Good Hobby Dan Mora Errors *''to be added'' Notes *The giant robot movie that Trini thought was dumb is somewhat hilarious considering her role as a Power Ranger. The movie seems to be a reference to Pacific Rim, with a speech about nobody taking the army's "Re-Independece" alluding to the 1990s film Independence Day. *Alpha pilots the Pterodactyl Dinozord; this is his first time doing so in the comics. *Trini seems to be interested in making a future career in a field of technology, as a majority of her reading list consists of several real life books on businesses such as Tesla, Google, Facebook and Pixar. All of which are considered "bibles" of the modern business entrepreneur by individuals who are industrialists. Those books are: ** by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull ** by Peter Thiel ** by Eric Schmidt and Johnathan Rosenberg ** by Ashlee Vance ***The only oddity among her reading list is by Neil Gaiman, a fantasy story. *In this issue, readers learn that, like in the show, Trini used to be afraid of heights, but her time as the Yellow Ranger helped her conquer her fear and now she loves being in high places to see the beauty of the world from above. *Grace's eventual meeting with the Rangers is foreshadowed in this issue. After Bulk's recording of her interview, Grace is seen on a TV again in the Youth Center and later Trini is reading Grace's self-made autobiography. *Zordon's staff is revealed to be the exact same one of his Zyuranger counterpart Barza, which the TV series itself had shown in a few episodes. * In one panel of the Squatt and Baboo story, there are two giant shadows in the distance that seem to be in the middle of a battle. One of the figures is . * A special variant cover version of the issue was given out at SDCC 2017, which if combined with 3 other comics sold at the event would form a gatefold poster. If 2 different variant covers of Issue #1 of Go Go Power Rangers and the 2017 Annual variant were combined with it, it would form an artistic homage to the gatefold cover of X-Men #1 made by Jim Lee. *Kimberly taking Trini for a joyride on the Pteradactyl Zord would seem to be a violation of Zordon's rule against the Rangers using their powers for personal gain. It's worth noting that Zordon was not present at the time, though Alpha would likely at least raise an objection.